Pinning a Tweet allows you to showcase your best content at the top of your profile page for as long as you’d like.Pin a Tweet is without a doubt the easiest thing you can do to improve your Twitter strategy. It’s also probably the single biggest improvement you can make to your Twitter profile.

It’s just this simple: if you want to get clicks through to your content on Twitter, a great pinned Tweet is your best opportunity. I’ll get to why in just a moment – plus a bonus hack most people don’t know about.

Pinned tweets have helped send thousands of Twitter users to my website. Promoting various free eBook via my pinned tweet has grown my email list too! I LOVE this Twitter feature and try to use it as much as possible. There’s not much “free” left in social media marketing, but this is one option that packs a wallop without requiring hefty resources.

Check it out! Use a pinned tweet to:1) Attract FollowersFor Twitter to work as a marketing tool, you need a targeted following. By using a pinned tweet that’s focused on your avatar and brand, you’ll entice connections that help your business. You’ll also form bonds that are relevant to your industry, profession, and interests.Consider a strategy for what to pin.

Since your pinned tweet is the first one seen on your profile page, it needs to communicate what is most pertinent to your brand.When your message appeals to followers, you’ll build an audience of potential customers. Additionally, you’ll open the door to other opportunities, such as partnerships, guest blogs, meetups, new friendships, etc.The more specific and endearing your brand is to your audience, the more your following will grow and the higher the likelihood it will become a community of customers and colleagues.

2) Test Marketing EffortsA pinned tweet can also help determine whether your messaging effectively attracts your avatar. Think of a pinned tweet as a way to perform free market research.You can test blog titles, opt-ins, offers, images, call-to-actions, and more! Twitter can be your test run on specific promotions and what language you use.You can usually tell if your pinned tweet is resonating with your followers. If it isn’t, you’ll know because the tweet will receive very little engagement. This either means your message isn’t on target or your followers are not your ideal audience. Thankfully, you can fix both.Be sure to dive deeper into Twitter Analytics. Don’t judge the performance of your marketing only on retweets and likes. Select the graph icon on a Tweet to find out more about link clicks, profile visits, and mentions.For example, link clicks are more important than retweets because they mean you inspired the person to take action.Collecting data about what your audience prefers is an often overlooked advantage of using a pinned tweet

.3) Generate TrafficYou won’t believe what Social Quant discovered after analyzing over a billion tweets and 11 million Twitter connections. The data revealed that a pinned tweet is the most clicked area of your Twitter profile!In other words, in the process of someone following you, they check out your pinned tweet and usually click the link in it.Sending people to a link via your pinned tweet is an efficient strategy to generate traffic to a specific web page. That’s free traffic, my friend!More visits mean more exposure and an increase in conversions. And, who doesn’t want or like that?

4) Promote Content for FreeThe content in your pinned Tweet promotes whatever you choose—and for free. You could pin a tweet with your latest blog post, an eBook, a coupon, a free offer, and the list goes on.Again, a plan or a strategy is important. Determine your goal and create a tweet based on what content best accomplishes that goal.

For example:If you are building a community of fans and an audience of potential customers is critical, then you might want a pinned tweet that moves people to your email list or sends people to your sales funnel.If establishing authority or influence in your industry is the goal, then you might want to promote a free downloadable eBook or a blog post as a pinned tweet.(Meanwhile, you’re still paying for content promotion over at Facebook…)

5) Increase Social ProofAccording to Fast Company, social proof is “the concept that people will conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of the correct behavior.”When your pinned tweet gets liked and retweeted, people see this engagement as social proof. The effect is two-fold:1) People believe they should also retweet and like your pinned tweet because other people did. The higher the engagement, the more likely other people will also engage with the content.2) People see the likes and retweets on your pinned tweet and assume you must be a trustworthy person who knows something about the topic in your tweet. (Another reason for making sure your pinned tweet is the right content!)So, the engagement a pinned tweet receives not only encourages more engagement but also helps your own social proof. In turn, your pinned tweet gets more mileage and you look like an all-star! It’s the snowball effect.